The Ferrari team broke Red Bull’s dominance in Formula 1 races, and put an end to a series of 15 consecutive victories, with Spaniard Carlos Sainz winning the Singapore Grand Prix, the fifteenth round of the World Championship, on Sunday.
Saince topped the enthusiastic and hectic race in the last breaths, achieving only his second victory in his career, after he won last season in the tenth round of the “British Grand Prix”.
The Spaniard finished in first place ahead of British McLaren driver Lando Norris and seven-time world champion Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who completed the podium in a row.
With this victory, the Ferrari team ended a series of 15 consecutive victories for Red Bull in the World Championship, extending from last season, as the Dutch defending champion Max Verstappen finished in fifth place, after starting from eleventh, and his Mexican colleague Sergio Pires in eighth place.
Verstappen entered the race on the back of 10 consecutive victories, a record achievement that surpassed what German Sebastian Vettel achieved in 2013 with Red Bull in particular.
Spaniard Sainz celebrates his victory in the night race of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Singapore (Reuters)
“An unbelievable feeling, an unbelievable weekend,” Sainz said after the win. He added: “We succeeded at the weekend, and we succeeded in the race. We did everything we had to do. “We did it perfectly and came home with a victory, and I’m sure all of Italy and Ferrari will be proud today.”
Despite his failure to continue his dominance and achieve his eleventh consecutive victory and thirteenth this season, Verstappen continues to hover at the top of the drivers’ standings with 374 points, ahead of his colleague Pires (223), Hamilton (180), and Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who finished fifteenth on Sunday (170). (142) consecutively.
Red Bull also continues to lead the constructors’ standings with 597 points, ahead of Mercedes (289), Ferrari (265), and Aston Martin (217), respectively.
The race was very exciting; It witnessed the introduction of the safety car and the last-second battle for the top three places, as British Mercedes driver George Russell made a mistake that caused him an accident and the loss of third place to his colleague Hamilton a few meters before the finish line.
Dutchman Verstappen (left) and Spaniard Sainz during the race (EPA)
At the start of the race, the front drivers started on “medium” tires, but Ferrari decided to have its driver, Charles Leclerc from Monaco, on “soft” tires, starting from third place behind Saints and Russell.
Leclerc made an excellent start, during which he succeeded in overtaking Russell to become behind his colleague, while Hamilton set off to overtake his colleague Russell in third place, before returning him to him. As he shortened the turn and gained an illegal advantage, the 7-time world champion fell to fifth place.
As for Verstappen, who started from 11th place on hard tires, he became ninth on the fourth lap, before Danish Haas driver Kevin Magnusson crossed to become eighth behind Frenchman Esteban Ocon, Alpine driver.
But upon reaching lap 18, the McLaren team approached its Australian driver, Oscar Piastri, saying that there was a possibility of rain later in the race.
At the front, Sainz was comfortable with his three-second lead over his teammate Leclerc, while Ferrari followed the strategy of providing protection for the Spaniard from Russell, so the son of the Principality of Monaco was an impenetrable shield.
The nineteenth lap witnessed an accident between Williams’ car and American Logan Sargent. Despite his return to the track, pieces of his car’s front wing were scattered on the track, which led to the safety car entering, so Ferrari took advantage of the situation and entered the Science and Leclerc cars into the pit.
Of the top ten, only Verstappen and his colleague Pires remained on the track without entering the pit.
With the safety car out, Sainz maintained the lead, and everyone was on “hard” tires, so Russell began the journey to overtake Verstappen. As Russell advanced, he began to pressure Saints in front of him, as the difference between them was less than a second, while his colleague Hamilton succeeded in overtaking Verstappen towards fourth place, similar to Leclerc, who pushed the Dutchman into sixth place.
On the forty-third lap, Ocon’s car stopped with what appeared to be an engine problem, and he withdrew from the race, along with Yuki Tsunoda, who did not complete a single lap due to the spin.
An unfortunate accident
As the end of the race approached, all eyes were on Russell and Hamilton, who were flying around the track.
Only 4 laps before the end, the battle in front was four: Sainz, Norris, Russell and Hamilton, with a small margin. Russell came very close to Norris, but the Mercedes driver made a mistake in the last lap, which caused him to go off the track and hit the wall, giving the position to his colleague Hamilton.
But Sainz held on to his position to finish first ahead of Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc and Verstappen. Hamilton said of his colleague: “It is very unfortunate what happened to George. “We were pushing hard to catch the lead, and our tires were hot.” He added: “But I know that he will return to his former self.” “He was exceptional all weekend.”
2023-09-17 16:41:25
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